Reviews

Need for Speed Underground 2

And while I won't fault EA too much for it, I will admit that I am not a fan of the licensed soundtrack the company has compiled for Need for Speed Underground 2. If you've played any of EA's games recently, you've got a good idea of what to expect here. And as is usually the case, EA's attempt to appeal to all has wrought a group of generally mediocre pop tracks that don't necessarily complement each other too well. Of course, everybody's got their own tastes and you'll probably either like it or you won't. I do find it obnoxious that the Xbox version lacks the ability to listen to custom soundtracks, as it was this feature alone that help me decide to purchase the Xbox version of Burnout 3. Then again, I'm just as capable of turning the music off completely and queueing up a few MP3s, so the problem is easily remedied.

The sound design is otherwise quite marvelous. The engines sound convincing and rough with much care taken to accurately recreate sound in the low-end of the aural spectrum. Gear changes are particularly well represented with believable clicks and whirs. Reverb is applied appropriately when vehicles enter tunnels or drive in narrow alleyways. If you have access to a surround setup, you'll be quite impressed by what Need for Speed Underground 2 has to offer.

Urban Beauty

Visually, Need for Speed Underground 2 is generally rather remarkable to look at. The same lighting effects and reflections that drew crowds after last year's release are back and look as stunning as before. The game world is rendered with greater fidelity this year, as well; this is likely due to the fact that in the first game the scenery simply needed to look suitable when moving by at great speeds. The addition of the open world simply requires that textures must be crisper and more realistic in appearance given the fact that gamers will be able to inspect the environment much more closely. This causes the framerate to suffer somewhat in the PS2 version and pretty dramatically in the GameCube edition. The Xbox version looks crisper than the PS2 version by quite a margin making it the best console offering. Those with high-end PCs are in for the biggest treat of all as Need for Speed Underground 2 is staggeringly beautiful with the settings cranked up to the max. Pick up a force-feedback racing wheel for the ultimate arcade experience at home.

Another effect is that the game doesn't quite have the blazing sense of speed that its predecessor did, except when cars are moving their absolute fastest. The PS2 version of Need for Speed Underground was the quickest of the bunch last year, due to the heavy reliance on blur effects. The other versions never quite felt as thrilling. In general, Need for Speed Underground 2 feels similar to the slower of last year's offerings. I found this to be disappointing initially, but easy to forgive given the scale and quality of the environment.